Three hundred years ago, before envelopes, passwords and security codes, writers often struggled to keep thoughts, cares and dreams expressed in their letters private. One popular way was to use a ...

Opening a letter may seem like a straightforward task, but that’s only in the age of mass-produced gummed envelopes, first invented in the 1830s. For hundreds of years before that, many people relied ...

In 1587, hours before her beheading, Mary, Queen of Scots, sent a letter to her brother-in-law Henry III, King of France. But she didn’t just sign it and send it off. She folded the paper repeatedly, ...

A rare unopened example of a letterpacket with a paper lock. This locking mechanism was used since the 1500s, but until now, only opened and “unlocked” examples had been seen in archival collections.

Until the 1830s, letters sent around the world were secured through a method called “letterlocking,” in which the paper was folded so intricately that opening it up broke the folds, or the “seal,” ...

Three hundred years ago, before envelopes, passwords and security codes, writers often struggled to keep thoughts, cares and dreams expressed in their letters private. One popular way was to use a ...

M.I.T. researchers have devised a virtual-reality technique that lets them read old letters that were mailed not in envelopes but in the writing paper itself after being folded into elaborate ...